Honoring Black History Month

“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

These words by Frederick Douglass hold significant meaning during Fenway Health and AIDS Action Committee’s current state of transition. As we begin Black History Month, this agency’s Racial Justice and Equity Collaborative (RJEC) sees this time as a great opportunity for us, as an agency, to take a moment and reflect on Fenway/AAC’s strengths, shortcomings and aspirations for strategic change internally and externally.

Our mission is to enhance the well-being of the LGBT community and all people in our neighborhoods and beyond through access to the highest quality health care, education, research and advocacy. As we move though another Black History Month, we at Fenway Health honor and recognize the many people of color in our community, from staff members to patients to donors and volunteers.

Below is a list of suggested books, articles and films from the RJEC Core Group to help facilitate moments of reflection. We hope that you’ll find it informative and inspirational, both during Black History Month and throughout the year.

1. A Declaration of Liberation: Building a Racially Just and Strategic Domestic HIV Movement
2. Black LGBT Health in the United States: The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation, edited by Lourdes Dolores Follins and Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, and featuring a chapter by our very own Tfawa Haynes.
3. Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (book and film)
5. Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia Butler, Damien Duffy and John Jennings
6. Madiba – A Nelson Mandela Movie
7. 13th (Netflix)
8. For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home, edited by Keith Boykin
9. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Netflix)
10. The Meaning of Michelle: 16 Writers on the Iconic First Lady and How Her Journey Inspires Our Own, edited by Veronica Chambers
11. Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi
12. 2 Dope Queens (podcast)
13. How to Be An Ally: A Guide for Woke White People, White People Who Want to Be Woke, and WOC Who Can Empathize
14. Allegories on race and racism, by Camara Jones, TEDxEmory
15. Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

In honor of Black History Month, Fenway’s Women’s Health Team will be hosting “Black Queerstory” on Thurs. Feb. 8 from 6 PM to 8 PM in the 10th floor auditorium of 1340 Boylston St. This will include a screening of the film The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen in conjunction with the Boston Lesbians of Color Collective Symposium, with a discussion to follow. Please visit the event Facebook page for more information.